College football players of the week: Week 8, 2026
UCF's Keyone Jenkins accounted for four touchdowns and threw the two-point conversion that beat No. 2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime. Texas's Jelani McDonald made 12 tackles and ended a 34-27 win over No. 7 Ole Miss with an interception in the end zone on the final play, and South Carolina's Malik Orsan beat No. 11 Tennessee with a 48-yard field goal as time expired.
25 of 41, 293 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT; 11 rushes, 35 yards, 1 TD; threw the two-point conversion in the second overtime
He beat No. 2 BYU in double overtime, UCF's first win over a top-five team, and accounted for four of its five touchdowns without an interception. His touchdown pass to Landen Chambers with four seconds left in the first half put UCF up 17-14, and his 1-yard run made it 24-21 in the third quarter. After BYU scored first in overtime, he tied it on the next snap with a 25-yard pass to Josh Derry. In the second overtime he threw a touchdown pass to Grayson Brousseau and found Tyren Hornes for the two-point conversion, and BYU's answer ended on fourth down at the UCF 4. He was also stopped on fourth-and-goal at the 1 late in regulation. LSU's Sam Leavitt had more yards, 441 total, and four touchdowns in a 38-17 win at Auburn, but against an unranked team in a game LSU led 31-10 at halftime.
Runner-up: Sam Leavitt, LSU: 32 of 45, 387 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT; 8 rushes, 54 yards, 1 TD in a 38-17 win at Auburn
12 tackles (7 solo), 1 INT, 1 pass breakup; the interception came in the end zone on the final play
He made the play that ended a game Texas nearly let get away. Texas led No. 7 Ole Miss 24-3 at halftime, and Ole Miss tied it 24-24 with 13:57 left. After Ole Miss kicked a field goal to get within 34-27 with 1:22 left and recovered an onside kick, McDonald broke up a deep pass on the final drive, then intercepted Trinidad Chambliss in the end zone on the last play, Chambliss's third interception of the night. He also led Texas with 12 tackles. Indiana's Rolijah Hardy was the close call: both of his sacks at Michigan came on third down, the second on third-and-goal from the 3 in the last minute of a 6-3 game, which held Michigan to a tying field goal before Indiana won in overtime. Hardy did it on the road, but against an unranked team; McDonald did it against a top-10 one.
Runner-up: Rolijah Hardy, Indiana: 9 tackles, 2 sacks (both on third down, the second on third-and-goal from the 3 in the last minute of regulation) in a 13-6 overtime win at Michigan
W South Carolina 27, Tennessee 24 · vs No. 11 Tennessee
2 of 2 field goals (22 and 48 yards), 3 of 3 extra points; the 48-yarder came on the final play
He beat No. 11 Tennessee from 48 yards on the final play. Tennessee led 24-17 until LaNorris Sellers scored on a 4-yard run with 1:17 left. On Tennessee's next possession, Dylan Stewart sacked George MacIntyre and forced a fumble that Tomiwa Durojaiye recovered at the Tennessee 34 with 33 seconds left, and South Carolina ran the clock down to three seconds for the kick. Orsan's 22-yarder with 1:44 left in the first half had put South Carolina ahead 17-14. Minnesota's Luke Drzewiecki also beat a ranked team on the last play, from 46 yards against No. 15 Iowa. Orsan's kick was longer and came against the higher-ranked opponent.
Runner-up: Luke Drzewiecki, Minnesota: 2 of 2 field goals (31 and 46 yards); the 46-yarder came as time expired in a 13-10 win over No. 15 Iowa
One player per slot, judged the way the power rankings judge teams: what happened on the field, against whom and where. Production counts, and so does the opponent. A big game against a good defense or on the road beats the same numbers at home against a bad one, and a play that decided the game beats one that padded a lead. A great game in a loss can still win if nothing else comes close.
NFL awards follow the league's format, AFC and NFC, and go up on Tuesday morning, a day before the league names its own. College awards are national and go up on Sunday morning. Where there's an official pick (the NFL's, or Walter Camp's for college offense and defense), it's listed under ours, agree or not.
The NFL page also goes position by position: a player of the week and a season top 5 at each of 14 spots, from quarterback to punter. Players are filed by the job they do, so an edge rusher is anyone who rushes from the line, whether he's called an end or an outside linebacker, and a linebacker plays off the ball. The top 5 is the whole season's body of work, not a count of weekly wins, and a player needs to have played real snaps to make it. Offensive linemen have no box score, so they're judged on pressures and sacks allowed, penalties and what the offense did around them; that's noted on those cards.